1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for mechanically removing an aged-wax and fur firmly deposited on a coated surface of a vehicle without substantially requiring person's hands.
As used in the present invention, "aged wax" means waxes aged and stained with dirts in the air or rainwater taken into a wax layer which has been previously applied as a thin coated protective film on a surface of a vehicle, and "fur" means organic materials such as calcium dissolved into water, having been deposited on and penetrated into the vehicle surface, and having emerged again in a darkened form thereonto.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When the coated surface of a vehicle is to be newly waxed for protection and polishing, a color inherent in a coating is difficult to display by merely providing a new waxing on the coated surface with the aged wax and the fur having been left thereon. There is conventionally known the use, for the purpose of mechanically removing the aged wax and the fur, of a removing apparatus including a gate-type frame which is reciprocally travellable astride a vehicle in longitudinal directions of the latter and which is proivided with a rotary brush arrangement, a dryer, a clear water sprayer, a neutralizer-containing rinse water sprayer and an aged-wax and fur removing material spreader, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 157456/86.
With the prior art apparatus, the vehicle is brushed during first advancing and returning movements of the gate-type frame to remove dirts on the vehicle, and an aged-wax and fur removing material is spreaded onto the vehicle and rubbed into the surface of the vehicle by brushing to liberate the dirts during second advancing and returning movements. Further, during third advancing and returning movements, only the brushing is continued to enhance an effect of liberating the fur and the aged wax, and during fourth advancing and returning movements, clear water is sprayed onto the vehicle for rinsing thereof, followed by drying of the surface thereof. This prior art apparatus is accompanied by the following problems. It is necessary to move the gate-type frame in four reciprocations for completion of all the steps, resulting in a decreased efficiency. Moreover, during the fourth advancing movement, the spraying of the neutralizer-containing rinse water onto the vehicle is not conducted prior to the brushing and hence, an effect by a neutralizer therein cannot be satisfactorily enhanced by brushing. Additionally, because the step of rinsing with clear water after spraying of the neutralizer-containing rinse water is conducted only during the fourth returning movement, a rinsing effect is not satisfactory.